A farmer in Kentucky literally struck gold while digging in his corn field earlier this year. He unearthed more than 700 gold coins, some dating before the American Civil War. 

Known as “The Great Kentucky Hoard,” the coins were dated from 1840 to 1862, and included hundreds of U.S. gold pieces, and a small amount of silver coins. The identity of the man who discovered the coins and the location of the discovery has not been revealed. 

According to the Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC), which certified the coins’ authenticity, and GovMint, where the coins were sold, 95% of the hoard is composed of gold dollars, along with 20 $10 Liberty coins and eight $20 Liberty coins, Live Science reported. 

Numismatic experts estimated the value of the hoard at more than $2 million, according to WAVE-TV. 

During the Civil War, the state of Kentucky was known as a “Border State” because it bordered Union states in the North and Confederate states in the South. When the war began in 1861, then-Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin asserted the state’s neutrality with the “Kentucky Declaration of Neutrality.”

President Abraham Lincoln saw the importance of keeping the border states, (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) especially his home state of Kentucky in the Union. 

“I hope to have God on my side,” Lincoln reportedly said early in the war, “but I must have Kentucky.”

Despite Magoffin’s declaration of neutrality, many Kentucky families found themselves pitted against one another. Thirteen battles were also fought in the Bluegrass state during the war. The battle of Perryville was the largest with 72,196 combatants (55,396 Union and 16,800 Confederates) in the area during the engagement. Of this total, 20,000 Union troops and 16,000 Confederates were engaged in combat, according to the American Battlefield Trust.

Why Were the Coins Hidden? 

Ryan McNutt, a conflict archaeologist at Georgia Southern University told Live Science in an email that “given the time period and the location in Kentucky, which was neutral at the time, it is entirely possible this was buried in advance of Confederate John Hunt Morgan’s June to July 1863 raid.” 

There are several lost treasure stories in Kentucky. Some have to do with family members who allegedly hid coins and other valuables from the approaching Union and Confederate armies. According to the website Treasureseekr, one man named James Langstaff wrote in a letter he buried $20,000 in gold coins on his property in Paducah. Another man by the name of William Pettit reportedly buried $80,000 worth of gold coins near Lexington, and there’s also a story about some Confederate soldiers who allegedly stole a payroll and hid it near a cave near the Cumberland Gap. 

None of these stashes have ever been recovered. 

McNutt told Live Science since the coins found in the hoard are federal currency, it may be the result of one Kentuckian’s dealings with the federal government — “dealings that it would be wise to conceal from a Confederate raiding party.” Many Americans affected by the Civil War “became experienced with hiding goods and valuables,” he said.

Historical finds like the “Kentucky Hoard” on private land in the U.S. do not need to be reported. But McNutt told the outlet such coin hoards offer archaeologists a brief glimpse through a window in time. 

“It is entirely up to the landowner,” he said, but not engaging with an archaeologist means “it’s a snapshot of the past, lost forever.”

The coins were entrusted to rare coin dealer Jeff Garrett shown with the hoard after grading. (Photo credit: Numismatic Guaranty Company)

Jeff Garrett, the founder of Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries in Lexington, said handling the coins was a highlight in his career as a coin dealer. 

“The opportunity to handle the Great Kentucky Hoard is one of the highlights of my career,” Garrett told NGC. “The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated, as the stunning number of over 700 gold dollars represents a virtual time capsule of Civil War-era coinage including coins from the elusive Dahlonega Mint. Finding one Mint condition 1863 Double Eagle would be an important numismatic event. Finding nearly a roll of superb examples is hard to comprehend.”

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